Space mission in dentistry: valo grand curing light
2019 has been an incredible year for space and aeronautics.
->Most recently, on Oct. 18, NASA astronauts completed the first all-female spacewalk from the International Space Station.
->On July 20, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.
-> There was also an unprecedented, and perhaps unexpected, space mission in dentistry:
Ultradent sent its VALO Grand curing light to space in the ultimate durability test.
Amazingly, the crash landing back to Earth was just the beginning…
It all started when Ultradent celebrated the 10th anniversary of its award-winning VALO curing light on May 1, 2019. To call attention to the anniversary, the company wanted to think outside the box. In fact, they thought outside of this world. They secured VALO Grand to a platform attached to a launch box, tied the box to a weather balloon, and released it. It would be a true test: would VALO Grand, recognized for its durability, still work after being exposed to the extreme conditions of minus 70 degrees F (minus 56 degrees Celsius)? The plan was to track the launch box’s journey and recover it immediately… but the experiment didn’t go exactly as planned.
After the weather balloon burst and VALO Grand plummeted back to Earth, the GPS detector indicated that the launch box landed in the Uinta Mountains, in a remote area adjacent to the second highest peak in Utah. A recovery mission was launched 100 days later, after the snow had melted. When the team finally found the launch box, they discovered VALO Grand was missing. Unable to locate it, they returned to the Ultradent office to review GoPro footage from the flight and to find out what had happened to the curing light.
The launch box had actually crashed off a snowy mountain peak much higher than where it eventually settled. VALO Grand had likely dislodged upon impact, so the team resolved to try to recover the curing light at the higher location. Miraculously, their efforts paid off. By the time it was recovered, VALO Grand had been left outside for 126 days in the elements of the 12,000-ft.-mountain range. It had endured a tremendous impact and was exposed to snow, rain, cold, and heat. It was time to answer the question: would it still work? The team popped in new batteries and voila! VALO Grand had survived!
Built to Last and Outperform
Ultradent’s experiment was more than an amazing stunt—it’s a testament to VALO Grand’s durability. Ten years after its debut, the VALO product line continues to lead the market in LED curing light technology.
VALO Grand, introduced in 2016, represents the third generation of VALO curing lights. It offers the same accessibility, durability, and power as the original VALO curing light and all the freedom of the VALO Cordless light, plus the added benefit of a 50% bigger lens. The larger footprint makes it easier to cure a large surface area quickly and effectively. The VALO Grand lens is capable of covering a 10 mm molar in a single cure. VALO Grand also features a second activation button on the underside of the unit for a more intuitive operation.
A space mission was a unique test for VALO Grand, especially considering that every VALO broadband LED curing light starts as a solid bar of tempered, high-grade aerospace aluminum that’s CNC precision milled at Ultradent’ facility.
The true unibody construction ensures durability and provides heat dissipation.
Other key components include an aluminum wand, machined components, and a tempered glass lens.
VALO Grand stands out for its delivery of high-intensity light. Whereas many curing lights only have a single LED chip that operates on one wavelength, each VALO light has four custom, multiwavelength LEDs that produce high-intensity light at 395 nm to 480 nm. While other curing lights' beams dissipate even at distances as short as 4 mm, which results in significant energy loss to the curing site, VALO light’s collimated beam is intense and consistent. It combines with the proprietary LED pack and broad-spectrum output to deliver the energy needed to completely polymerize any resin.
VALO Grand might be built for power and endurance, but it also has a low-profile, ergonomic design that can easily reach all curing sights. It delivers energy directly without sacrificing patient comfort.
Learn more about VALO products on Ultradent’s website, and watch the full video of VALO Grand’s space journey below.